Dry Cleaning formed in South London in 2017 around vocalist Florence Shaw, guitarist Tom Dowse, bassist Lewis Maynard, and drummer Nick Buxton. Dowse, Maynard, and Buxton had already played music together before inviting Shaw, a visual artist and lecturer with little previous band experience, to add spoken vocals. The combination of tightly wound guitar music and Shaw’s observational delivery quickly gave the group a sound unlike most of its post-punk contemporaries. The band’s earliest recordings appeared on Sweet Princess, first self-released in 2018, and Boundary Road Snacks and Drinks in 2019. Those releases introduced songs including “Magic of Meghan,” “Goodnight,”
Walking east from London’s tourist and student thronged Camden Lock, past the graffiti, tags, and fly-posted walls of the Regent’s Canal, you will come across mini-posters inviting you to leave the water and visit one of Camden’s newest attractions, the Museum Of Youth Culture, opened in June 2026.
Free to enter, you step past a brightly coloured budget car, with furry dice hanging from the rear-view mirror. Any fan of The Inbetweeners will recognise it looks suspiciously like Simon’s cinquecento, with the red door being the giveaway, but it does represent every teenager’s car ever.
Inside, there is a buzzy, joyful atmosphere where I am met by Lisa Der Weduwe, the Art Director of the Museum, seen in the picture below, on what looks like a fun night.
The Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Lisa der Weduwe / Museum of Youth Culture
Lisa, originally a photographer, is a passionate and expert guide to twentieth-century youth subculture. Luckily for MetalTalk, she is also a fan of all things rock and Metal.
Lisa tells me it all began in 1997, in the garden of a London house, when Jon Swinstead (Director of the Museum of Youth Culture) began collecting photos of the capital’s nights. Thirty years and more than 150,000 items later, the collection has finally found a home.
Crucially, “The focus is on the crowd, not the stage”, Lisa explains. This is not an exhibition that will have a jacket by a famous designer or Jimi Hendrix’s guitar, but a place where you will find a classic T-shirt, a piece of DIY clothing, a long-treasured ticket stub, badge, flyer or fanzine and collections of photos by the fans of the fans, for example these from Duane Harwood as well as some better-known photographers.
The Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Duane Harwood / Museum of Youth CultureThe Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Duane Harwood / Museum of Youth Culture
The focus is from ’20s-’30s British youth sub-culture to the present day.
Unsurprisingly, with Britain’s diversity, there are elements of youth sub-cultures from around the globe that have made Britain their home.
The Museum prides itself on being able to pull out or show something from any youth sub-culture in any period that someone is interested in. That is impressive, and when we focus on the Heavy Metal collection, there are some gems.
Pride of place goes to a 1971 Black Sabbath T-shirt carrying the early fairy imagery before they moved to the darker demon style. Marking that crossover from the flower power rock and velvet jackets of the earliest days of Metal it is melded with the darker dress of motorcycle culture.
The Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Museum of Youth Culture
This is paired with Sanna Charles’s denim battle jacket. This had belonged to her father in his youth, but he gave it to her, with Sanna cutting off the sleeves and decorating it with band patches.
Sanna Charles is famous for the photographic project which resulted in the book God Listens To Slayer. This showed Slayer fans at play, and examples from the book can be found on the subterranean floors of the Museum. These are alongside Steve Gray’s photographs, also recording, amongst other things, the rock and Metal scene.
Ticket stubs were jaw-dropping. Go and see Alice Cooper for £1 in 1972, Van Halen at the much-missed Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre for £3.50 or Iron Maiden for £14.50 in 1995 at the Brixton Academy.
The Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Mike & Jack Patsalou / Museum of Youth CultureThe Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Mike & Jack Patsalou / Museum of Youth Culture
There were some wonderful examples of Metal badges.
The Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: The Rusty Pin / Museum of Youth CultureThe Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: The Rusty Pin / Museum of Youth CultureThe Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: The Rusty Pin / Museum of Youth Culture
As the origins of the archive are from 1997, many of the photos on the Museum’s walls relate to nu-Metal, including pictures from Ozzfest in Milton Keynes in 2001. The personal collections that the Museum has been given permission to use by members of the public capture the essence of the recklessness and fun of the decades.
The Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Rebecca Lewis / Museum of Youth CultureThe Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Rebecca Lewis / Museum of Youth Culture
There are also tangential connections with the way the Metal scene collided with the dance music and rap music scenes in the ’90s. It is a chance to let your memories and imagination loose as the objects and images trigger you.
The huge main exhibition room is a melee of punk, pop, mods, indie, rave, reggae, bhangra, K-Pop. You name it, they have got it, with the weird and the wonderful thrown in.
The Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Sean Titley
The giant sound system in the main exhibition space is easily a rival and as large and loud as anything you would see at Notting Hill. Music follows you round wherever you go. It can be hired as an event space for screenings or for events, which is one of the ways the not-for-profit raises funds, along with donations and some element of grant funding.
The Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Elisabeth Blanchet
There are youth culture entertainments for everybody including:
table football. You will not have seen teams like this before. My favourite was the glam rocker in goal
a passport-style photo booth so you can leave with a picture of yourself pulling the silliest faces or with your nearest and dearest
a classic Space Invaders arcade game
a telephone booth where you can make spoken word recordings into an old-style handset that contribute to the Museum’s oral history archive.
The Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Elisabeth Blanchet
There is lots more besides. There are bean bags and a coffee shop with a bar serving alcohol and an exciting gift shop which includes a record store reflecting all genres.
When I was there, the Museum had people of all ages visiting, including lots of fun-loving, excited, happy youngsters. This is exactly what the committed team want. To make a space for intergenerational connection and understanding and to preserve what makes youth great in a positive way. There are plans to open other branches in Birmingham and Glasgow.
The experience of visiting is high impact, bringing back memories of identity and community, and led to some fun reminiscing with a great friend in the Constitution pub, conveniently opposite the Museum, with beautiful views over the canal.
The Museum Of Youth Culture, Camden. Photo: Elisabeth Blanchet
The picture above says it is an incomplete history of youth culture. The Museum are very keen to expand their archive, so MetalTalk are reaching out to all of you.
If you have photo collections that you would be prepared to allow the Museum to use, stories you could share or objects or items that should be preserved, not binned, the Museum is keen for you to contact them via their website.
Most of all, the Museum would love you to visit and spread the word.
Their next major exhibition celebrates 50 years of punk culture with the spotlight on women. God Save The Queens has been put together by the daughters of Poly Styrene and Mick Jones of the Clash.
It promises to be very special.
You can find the Museum Of Youth Culture at 51 St Pancras Way, London, NW1 0PU. For more details, visit MuseumOfYouthCulture.com.
Athens, Greece-based slam unit Slamskies premieres his new single titled "BITCH KILLA", streaming via YouTube and Spotify for you now below.
Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com
United States & Canada-based electronic slamming death metal duo Miscreant of Malfeasance premiere a new single titled "Chamber Of Guts", streaming via YouTube and Spotify for you now below.
Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com
Danish Death Metal outfit Baest have just wrapped up their UK tour, so what better time to put guitarist Svend Karlsson through The MetalTalk Lowdown?
From drinking ten pints each on a day off to the perils of storing dirty laundry in plastic bags, Svend shares some of the lessons learned from life in a touring Metal band. There is also a surprising love of folk and country music, an encounter with the sleep paralysis demons, and a rather touching answer about what happens when the music finally stops.
What’s the most metal thing you’ve ever done off stage? We once had 10 pints each on a tour off day. Pretty Lemmy
What’s the worst gig you’ve ever played, and why? We played a show in heavy rain this summer. It took out all the front-stage gear. Bummer.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever played, and why? Copenhell 2022 in front of 20,000 people. GOOD times!
Would you choose a platinum record or one perfect, legendary live show? Platinum records make for more shows and tours. Platinum it is!
What’s your greatest fear? Disbanding .
What’s the trait you most deplore in yourself? We always try to do our best, and finding one trait for five people to share is nearly impossible. We each have our own, but the mix turns out great.
What’s the trait you most deplore in other musicians? The prima donna ones are the worst.
Describe yourself in three words. Heavy, fun, friends
What’s your guiltiest pleasure? We have none of those. But an unusual partner for Baest is the love for folk and country music.
What does a great riff feel like to write? It feels awesome. It is like blasting the Tetris hard times away.
What’s the worst thing a fan has ever said to you? Once, a fan yelled at us for not being pro-Putin. That was odd. We keep our music non-political.
What’s the worst thing a critic has ever said to you? Someone said we were not serious or dangerous enough. That was shitty considering our massive touring and Extreme music.
If you were not in music, what would you be doing? Wandering around, being a bit bored and unfulfilled.
What’s one album outside your genre you secretly love? Live, by Alison Krauss and the Union Station
When did you last cry, and why? Listening to the outro of To Live Is To Die, for obvious reasons.
What keeps you awake at night? The sleep paralysis demons.
Riffs, royalties or recognition, if you had to choose? Riffs!
How do you want to be remembered? As an honest, hard-working band with great abilities and songs.
What’s the most important lesson the road has taught you? Do not bring plastic bags for dirty clothing. They will rot.
What happens when the music stops? We retire and stay a family.
Enjoyed this Lowdown? Explore more from the series, featuring Vanessa Warwicke, Baz Mills, Krusher Joule and Howard H Smith, with Toby Jepson, Zorn and Skindred’s Arya Goggin coming soon. Same questions. Very different people. Read more MetalTalk Lowdowns here.
British nü-metalcore band Greysight have announced their signing to Seek & Strike, which will release the band’s new EP, “VIOLENCE IN BLOOM“, on November 6th. The group have also premiered a music video for the title track from the six-song effort, streaming via YouTube and Spotify for you now below.
“VIOLENCE IN BLOOM” track list: Read More/Discuss on Metal Underground.com
We ( Joe Tells Music Blog & Media) also offer Ticket Giveaways continually for our followers!
Stay tuned here and also follow our 2 social media sites(Facebook) to see when we post to our fans regarding our ticket giveaways for Buffalo Iron Works shows and events!
FATAL PARADOX releases on November 6th, via BLKIIBLK. Pre-Order HERE
HATEBREED’s new single“The Carrion Choir” – Watch and listen HERE
FATAL PARADOX – TRACK LISTING: Kill Count Increase The Carrion Choir Decisions Become Destinies Total Invincible Fatal Paradox Still A Threat Sacrifice Season” (Feat. John Tardy) Truth Is A Lion Make The Demons Obey None Left To Save Poison Planet
The Temperance Movement is the brainchild of vocalist Phil Campbell, who formed the band in 2011 and ultimately brought the story to a close in 2020 when he left the group. His departure effectively meant the end of The Temperance Movement. There were still a live release and a collection of rarities to follow, but the… Continue Reading →
The 1970s were a turbulent time for King Crimson, with numerous personnel changes from one record to the next, leading up to their split in 1974 after the completion of Red. In the half-decade and six albums leading up to that abdication, however, the music they produced was bold, uncompromising and visionary. In 2016 Prog chose 10 of the best.
With third album Lizard, Fripp augmented a transitional line-up with top-drawer jazz players to create an epic, sprawling, chaotic clash of styles veering from sparse, cinematic moodiness to free-form skirmishing. Scattered with pianist Keith Tippett’s splintered notes, a chillingly solemn Fripp solo guides the piece to a thrilling conclusion.
8. Sailor’s Tale (1971)
Propelled by Ian Wallace’s jazz-inspired drumming, swirling Mellotron, Mel Collins’ furious sax and Boz Burrell’s galloping bass, Fripp’s solo – laid down on the last day of recording of fourth album Islands – unleashes a metallic collision of lines and chords that sounds like nothing before it in the Crimson canon.
7. The Night Watch (1974)
King Crimson always had a soft spot for ballads, and this is one of their best. With lyrics inspired by Rembrandt’s painting of the same name, Fripp’s resplendent solo – recorded in a single first take – is a thing of beauty, but don’t miss John Wetton’s subtle, exquisite bass detail supporting it.
6. Starless And Bible Black (1974)
The title track to Crimson’s sixth studio album is, paradoxically, a live recording. Complex and haunting, though fans believed this a meticulously composed piece, it’s entirely improvised. David Cross’ atmospheric swathes of Mellotron provides a luminous backdrop as drummer Bill Bruford and bassist Wetton shift the action from the nebulous into sharp focus.
5. Red (1974)
Hugely influential, Crimson’s seventh and final ‘70s studio album was touted by Nirvana producer Butch Vig as the kind of sound Seattle’s grunge gurus should be aiming for. Wetton’s malevolent bass is every bit the equal to Fripp’s chordal shards, while Bruford’s controlled, clattering snare and cymbal ensures head-blitzing devastation.
4. Fracture (1974)
Fripp’s fiendishly complex cross-picking moto perpetuo figure, knitted into grinding monster riffs and explosive jazz-rock break-outs, typifies Crimson’s ability to meld brute force and clinical precision to breathtakingly audacious degrees. The final barn-storming section, including Bill Bruford’s yelp of excitement as the finishing line comes into view, is hair-raising stuff.
3. Larks’ Tongues In Aspic Part I (1973)
The title track of the fifth studio album – with Fripp, Wetton, Bruford, Cross and free-jazz court jester Jamie Muir on percussion and all sorts – is replete with buzzsaw riffs, intricate timings, clattering metallics, earth-moving bass, bucolic idylls and disembodied voices, forming a startling platter for the discerning palate.
2. Asbury Park (1974)
Recorded in the last days of their final tour of the ‘70s, even with tensions rife within the band, this remarkably powerful improvisation showcases the breathtaking musical telepathy they’d developed. After Bruford’s opening roll, Fripp shouts ‘F!’, as they blast off to explore a musical universe unique to King Crimson.
1. Starless (1974)
Suffused with woebegone Mellotron, the melancholic ballad leads, via an ominous bass line, across the tightrope-walking one-note guitar solo to dive into a thunderous, majestic finale. An undisputed classic, never mind the best ‘70s King Crimson song – this epic contains some of the finest moments in progressive music as a whole.
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